The roles of Women in New France

Their importance

The roles of Women in New France

Their importance

Les Filles du Roi

The king's daughters. A term referred to the French women who were bought from France because of the reason to populate the colony of New France. They were really wanted as they were a reason to the development of the colony. But why were they called the king's daughter? Just because the government of France paid for all the necessaries for the trip. These young women were the ones who were at the marriageable age or some were widows. Who thought of this in the first place? It was the governor of New France, Jean Talon, itself who was worried about its colony. By bringing the young women to New France and getting them to marry the settlers was most of his plan.

Roles of country women

When Les Filles de Roi got married to the settlers they were expected to do numerous amount of work. So whatever work they did was basically their role. The main job was to raise children, work in the farm and taking care of the household. The women who lived in the country had more job. Their role was to do the farming. Well it might sound like easy to do work but it is hard when you have a lot of steps to it. Also when you don't have a proper tool in your hand it takes a lot more time and energy to do all that work. They had a lot of work each season. They farming work included planting the crops, taking care and feeding the animals, and harvesting the crops in the fall. This is not it, they also had to spin the sheep fleece in the spinning wheel to make clothes for each member in their family, cook meals and do other chores in their house. They barely had any free time.

Roles of city women

Women who live in the city did have work. But I think they didn't have much work as the women in the country because in the country they had a farm to take care of which is a very hard work to do whereas the women in the city have to just to take care of the children and take care of the household. As I was doing my research I slowly started to find out the differences between the two types of women. The country women had extra amount of work then the city ones. Sometimes the women in the city had their own business like to keep hostels, or they were cooks and maids for the wealthy families.

Roles of religious women

Nuns played an significant role in New France. They were like doctors who took care of the sick and like teachers who taught the children. Poorer girls had a chance to have an education and gain knowledge. They even produced goods and sold in the community. But did the religious women get respect from everyone equally? Did they take care of everyone? I think they were respected because they were the ones who treated the sick and were one of the ways to gain education.

Conclusion

Women in New France were actually the most important ones as they were the ones who were the reason for it to survive. They did everything like farming, keeping the household and even running a business. They left France just to develop the territories for

New France. But what did they get in return? Did they have any personal time or free time?

Did they get any rights? Why were they treated this way? Why was it unusual for women to own property or keep books? They should've got back what they deserved.